Obama, CEOs: Better relations to boost economy

President Barack Obama walks across Pennsylvania Ave., and back to the White House following his working meeting with business leaders at the Blair House in Washington, Wednesday, Dec., 15, 2010.(AP Photo)
— AP

President Barack Obama walks across Pennsylvania Ave., and back to the White House following his working meeting with business leaders at the Blair House in Washington, Wednesday, Dec., 15, 2010.(AP Photo)
/ AP

President Barack Obama walks out the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2010, and across Pennsylvania Ave., to the Blair House, for a scheduled working meeting with business leaders. (AP Photo)— AP

President Barack Obama walks out the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2010, and across Pennsylvania Ave., to the Blair House, for a scheduled working meeting with business leaders. (AP Photo)
/ AP

President Barack Obama walks across Pennsylvania Ave., to the Blair House, across the street from the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2010, for a scheduled working meeting with business leaders. In the background is a statue of American Revolutionary War hero, Gen. Comte de Rochambeau, in Lafayette Park. (AP Photo)— AP

President Barack Obama walks across Pennsylvania Ave., to the Blair House, across the street from the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2010, for a scheduled working meeting with business leaders. In the background is a statue of American Revolutionary War hero, Gen. Comte de Rochambeau, in Lafayette Park. (AP Photo)
/ AP

President Barack Obama walks back to the White House after a meeting on the economy at Blair House with corporate CEOs, Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2010, Washington. (AP Photo)— AP

President Barack Obama makes a statement to reporters in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, across from the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2010. (AP Photo)
/ AP

President Barack Obama walks across Pennsylvania Ave., to the Blair House, across the street from the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2010, for a scheduled working meeting with business leaders. (AP Photo)— AP

President Barack Obama walks across Pennsylvania Ave., to the Blair House, across the street from the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2010, for a scheduled working meeting with business leaders. (AP Photo)
/ AP

President Barack Obama makes a statement to reporters in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, across from the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2010. (AP Photo)— AP

President Barack Obama makes a statement to reporters in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, across from the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2010. (AP Photo)
/ AP

President Barack Obama walks across Pennsylvania Ave., to the Blair House, across the street from the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Dec., 15, 2010, for a scheduled working meeting with business leaders. (AP Photo)— AP

President Barack Obama walks across Pennsylvania Ave., to the Blair House, across the street from the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Dec., 15, 2010, for a scheduled working meeting with business leaders. (AP Photo)
/ AP

President Barack Obama walks back to the White House after a meeting on the economy at Blair House with corporate CEOs, Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2010, in Washington. (AP Photo)— AP

President Barack Obama walks back to the White House after a meeting on the economy at Blair House with corporate CEOs, Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2010, in Washington. (AP Photo)
/ AP

WASHINGTON 
Dogged by high unemployment, President Barack Obama reached out to business leaders Wednesday, seeking to forge a new bond while prodding them to shake loose untapped corporate cash and create more jobs.

Obama cast himself as a business booster during a nearly five-hour meeting with 20 corporate CEOs, sharing a buffet lunch while urging them to put more than $1.9 trillion to work for the economy.

"We focused on jobs and investment, and they feel optimistic that by working together we can get some of that cash off the sidelines," the president said as he emerged from the session.

Such round-table discussions with corporate and financial sector CEOs are not new for Obama. But this closely watched session represented something of a reset for the president as he seeks common ground with a business community that has bristled over his administration's approach to health care, financial regulations and executives' bonuses.

The president joined the CEO group after a short walk from the White House grounds across Pennsylvania Avenue to Blair House, better known as guest quarters for visiting dignitaries.

Obama sat at the head of a rectangular table and moderated the discussion, which White House economist Austan Goolsbee described as "overwhelmingly positive."

The group skipped a scheduled midmorning break and had a working lunch before adjourning shortly after 2:15 p.m.

Boeing Chairman James McNerney described the meeting as "constructive" and praised the teamwork displayed in the session.

"It was about how the White House and private sector can work together more. It wasn't a picture opportunity," Robert Wolf, CEO of UBS, said.

Goolsbee said much of the meeting centered on the amount of cash parked on corporate balance sheets, an accumulation that businesses blame on lack of consumer demand and apprehension over government regulations.

"The most important reason that people thought the cash was sitting on the sidelines was uncertainty about demand," Goolsbee said. "We've got to get the economy growing and then there would be a lot of motivation for people to use it."

The executives also expressed a desire for certainty in administration policy, and they applauded Obama for reaching a compromise with Republicans that would extend Bush-era tax cuts for all income earners, Goolsbee said.

"The tax compromise they thought was effective in that, in that it was some short-run certainty," he said.

Despite high unemployment, the meeting unfolded amid some positive indicators. Government and private-sector reports suggest the economy is growing at a faster rate, and that 2011 will be better than most economists thought just months ago.

That view is supported by a recent survey by the Business Roundtable of top CEOs, who said they were more bullish about job growth than they were three months ago.